Many engine and machine components experience abrasive conditions, which can cause accelerated wear of the components. When this wear occurs at a seal interface, fluids can leak through the worn areas. Accordingly, some components are fabricated with a wear surface having enhanced material properties at the seal interface. An exemplary machine component having such a wear surface is a track bushing that forms a portion of a machine's undercarriage.
An exemplary track bushing is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,089,683 that issued to Anderton et al. on Jul. 18, 2000 (“the '683 patent”). The track bushing of the '683 patent has a tubular shape, with bearing surfaces located at opposing ends thereof. A circumferential groove is formed within each bearing surface and filled with an abrasion-resistant material. The material is deposited within the grooves and bonded to a base material of the tubular shape by way of laser cladding. Excess material protruding from the grooves after deposition is removed through a grinding process.
Although the laser cladding process of the '683 patent may be adequate for most applications, it may still be less than optimal, in particular, the material removed through the grinding process may be wasted. And waste increases a cost of the track bushing, in addition, the amount of grinding that occurs in some applications may be significant, causing premature wear of the associated grinding equipment.
An alternative laser cladding process is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,952,180 that issued to Gnanamuthu on Apr. 20, 1976 (“the '180 patent”). Specifically, the '180 patent describes a laser cladding process wherein multiple adjacent and smaller rows of material are deposited on a metal substrate. The resulting wavy clad surface is then smoothed by locally oscillating the laser beam over the surface during the course of subsequent laser scanning passes.
While the laser cladding process of the '180 patent may result in a smooth clad surface with less waste, it may be a complicated process that is difficult to control. In particular, the laser and/or the component must be oscillated in a precise pattern, while also scanning the laser beam across the clad surface of the component. This type of control can be expensive and prone to error.
The fabrication method of the present disclosure is directed at solving one or more of the problems set forth above and/or other problems in the art.